While many companies are overwhelmed by the Big Data, by concentrating on current data rather than getting caught up too much in historical data, companies can make timely, relevant offers to engage customers, Brett Hannath, director of marketing, and David Rosen, strategy, analytics and consumer insights for TIBCO Loyalty Lab, discussed the issue at the close of the Loyalty 360 Engagement & Experience Expo.
Companies have historically concentrated on information stored in databases, which was sufficient in the pre-social media world. But now companies need to be able to analyze and respond to structured and unstructured data fast enough to make a relevant offer to consumers. That means working with real time data, rather than historical data, they said. By the time historical data is processed and analyzed, it’s too late to make timely offers to today’s consumers.
“The historical data isn’t current,” Hannath said. But that’s the data that most companies still develop their marketing around. It isn’t that the historical data doesn’t have some value, but increasingly it’s the real-time data that drives the consumer markets today because it can drive real-time, relevant offers and help proactively address customer service issues.
Transactional, database-driven data requires days or weeks to run correlations and to send the responding information to marketers to design offers, based on a variety of factors. The faster the intelligence is used to produce a timely, contextually relevant response, the higher the chance of success.
With event-based marketing driven by real time data, by contrast, companies can make real-time offers based on predetermined rules built into decision-making engines. For example, a company can use this information to produce offers that help cross-sell or upsell based on a consumer’s current purchase(s).
Companies can also extend offers in real time to a customer’s mobile device. According to TIBCO Loyalty Lab, mobile campaigns can have success rates of as high as 40 percent to 50 percent. Sales conversion rates are much higher if customers receive relevant offers before leaving a store, checking out online or exiting a mobile commerce app, according to TIBCO Loyalty Lab.
Similarly, an airline can use information like time customer arrives at the ticket counter, checks luggage, boards the plane, plane departs, etc., to ensure that the customer has a seamless experience. If there is a problem, (e.g., luggage didn’t make the flight), steps can be taken and the customer can be notified to proactively address the issue, rather than simply reacting once the luggage fails to appear on the baggage rack when the customer arrives at the destination.
Such an approach worked for Reliance Communications, which used event-driven capabilities to monitor customers’ dropped calls, offering an apology and a few free SMS messages when the number of dropped calls hit five.
The automation of customer service responses also helps companies reduce contact center traffic and related costs, according to TIBCO Loyalty Lab.